Adrenaline Junkies
by Galaxystar
Summary: She missed the sound of her own heart pounding into her ribcage, the sound of blood rushing in her ears. She missed the feeling of adrenaline pumping through her veins. Most of all, Bella missed the Fear. All Vamps, All Couples: B/E A/J R/E R&R!
1. An Introduction to Fear Edit

*****

Adrenaline Junkies

Chapter One: An Introduction to Fear

*****

'_Edward is going to kill me_.'

Bella mused as she continued to hike her way through the forest. She drug a pale hand through her rich auburn locks, trying to rid the strands of stray leaves and early morning dew.

It was taking forever to reach their destination, and the longer they took, the more impatient Rosalie became.

She burrowed deeper into her purple windbreaker, more out of habit than actual necessity. The sun was just beginning to rise, and in another hour or two, it would be positioned high over the lake. Alice had checked the weather before they'd left, not that it really mattered.

Apparently today was going to have a high of 55 degrees, complete with lots of sunshine and minimal cloud cover.

'_Minimal cloud cover…'_ She replayed the words in her head. _'Oh yeah, he is definitely going to kill me.'_

"This was your idea, Bella, so do you think you could at least _try_ to keep up?"

"I'm going as fast as I can." Bella muttered, trying to maneuver her way through the mass of upturned roots and fallen tree branches. "And anyway, we're making good time."

"No we're not," Rosalie snipped, "and that's the problem."

"Oh, would you two quit it already?" Alice huffed from her position in between them. She may have been shorter than both Bella and Rosalie, but she never refused let that stop her from saying her piece. "No one forced you to come, Rose, and there's no one stopping you from turning around and hightailing it back to the house."

"And leave you two do something this monumentally irresponsible alone?" Her perfectly painted lips curved to form a small smile. "I wouldn't dream of it."

Bella gave Rosalie a playful nudge.

"Then why don't you stop complaining already?"

"Who said I complaining? Besides, it's been a long time since I've had an opportunity to ruffle Emmett's feathers like this, which means this trip long overdue."

Alice just barely managed catch Bella before she tripped over a thick twig camouflaged beneath a mass of dead leaves.

"Okay there, Bells?" Rosalie tossed over her shoulder.

"Rosalie you didn't." Bella sputtered, her gaze flitting nervously from Alice to Rosalie.

Didn't what? Can we keep moving please? It's beginning to look like rain.

'…_Lot's of sunshine and minimal cloud cover…'_

"Tell me that you did _not_ tell Emmett."

Rosalie quirked one perfectly arched brow. "I didn't tell him anything."

"You swear?"

Alice busied herself with picking wet leaves off her rain boots. "Calm down, we all agreed that this would be our secret. And even if we were going to share our adventures, which we're not, it's not like any of us are in any real danger. We're not gonna' die. We're just…gonna' liven things up a bit, no pun intended."

"I mean it, Rosalie. You can't breathe a word of this to Emmett, I don't care how bad he pisses you off. Edward will kill me if he finds out."

Alice ran to catch up with Rosalie, rolling her eyes as she went.

"There's no need to be as dramatic as all that, Bella. You're a vampire now, which means you're practically indestructible. Or have you forgotten?"

Bella eyed her warily before deciding it was best to get a move on. They were wasting time.

"You know I haven't." She mumbled. "It's just that eternity's a long time to spend married to pissed-off vampire named Edward Cullen, that's all."

"It's been fifteen years, Bella. Tell him to get over it."

"Get over what?"

"All that overprotective nonsense of his. I mean, nine times out of ten, you're usually out with me."

"So-o-o-o?" She really did not want to talk about this right now.

Alice swung around to face Bella and made no move to hide her agitation.

"So-o-o-o, I'm a freaking psychic! I can see the future! Which means that you are perfectly safe with me, and frankly I'm a little offended that after all this time he still doesn't trust me."

"It's not you he doesn't trust…it's just everybody else." Rosalie replied in an effort to placate her tiny sister.

"Whatever. I honestly don't know how you do it Bella, because I certainly couldn't put up with someone as overprotective and overbearing as Edward,"

"Yeah? And yet you've been with Jasper for how long now?"

Alice stumbled, but managed to recover gracefully. "Excused me? He's just what you call a 'Southern Gentleman'. That's all."

Bella was forced to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

"Sure he is, Alice." Rosalie quipped as she ducked under a moss-coved branch. "That's why he hardly ever let's you out of his sight."

"I go out on my own all time!" Alice bristled.

"Not for long you don't."

"Seriously Alice," Bella chimed, "what's the longest Jasper has ever allowed you to be away from him."

"Jasper doesn't _allow_ me to do anything."

"Of course not," Rosalie snorted, "and Edward is totally the only overbearing vampire in this family."

"Does Emmett know you think he's overbearing?"

If the blonde had actually had blood pumping in her veins, she probably would have blushed.

"Never said I felt that way. How much farther, Bella?"

"Just a bit more up the hill I think. Be careful, the incline here tends to get really steep, really fast."

"I think we'll manage. Now quit trying to change the subject, Rose. Do you find Emmett overbearing or not?"

"Sometimes I guess. Not usually. He let's me do my own thing at least most of time until…"

"Until…?"

Rosalie sighed. "Until I find myself in the company of other men. And then he just kind of becomes a—"

"A pain in the ass?" Bella supplied helpfully as she absently kicked a loose rock.

"Yeah, that. Whatever. This trip isn't even supposed to be about them, remember? We're supposed to be trying to recapture some of our…what was it…our more elusive human emotions, right? Which is why we decided to walk up this trail at such an ungodly speed."

"If we were humans, this is about as fast as we would be going. Assuming one of us hadn't already fallen to our death or been mauled by a bear."

"God Bella, sometimes you're about as chipper as Edward." Alice grumbled, resisting the urge to race to the top of the cliff and be done with it.

"I know right?" She replied cheekily. "What can I say? Sometimes you Cullens' manage to have quite the effect on me."

*** NEARLY TWENTY MINUTES LATER***

They reached the top just as the rest of nature began to awaken. The still emerging sun seemed to light up the cold water below, while the early morning sky still glowed with fading pink and orange hues.

Even Rosalie had to agree that view from the cliff was positively breathtaking. And even more than that, it had been ages since any of them had actually watched the sun make its ascent across the horizon.

Alice turned to say something to Bella, only to find her sitting on the ground with her head resting between her legs.

"Bella…are you alright?"

"Huh? I'm fine."

"You sure?" Rosalie and Alice both eyed her warily. "You don't look fine…you look…tired."

"I'm fine guys, really. It's just the whole shield thing…nothing to worry about. I've been working with it, but it gets a little rough when I have to maintain it for long amounts of time."

"You're sure? "Rosalie asked again. "Because if you're not we can turn back, there's no need to make yourself sick over something we can totally do tomorrow."

Bella tried to hide her smile. Over the years she and Rosalie had grown rather close. They still butted heads now and again, but they both knew that Rosalie had officially accepted her as part of the family.

"I'll be fine. I just needed to rest a minute. I swear."

With a shrug, the two turned back to finish enjoying the view, making sure to remain hidden in the shade.

Bella forced herself to take deep, calming breaths.

In truth, she was really working overtime what with trying to shield her own thoughts, as well as those of Alice and Rosalie, from Edward's rather invasive mind-reading abilities. And it wasn't easy. They longer they hiked, the harder it became to concentrate, which made it difficult to completely maintain the protective barrier. However, she refused to share that information with Rosalie or Alice. This excursion had been _mostly_ her idea, and the last thing she wanted was to them to have come all this way for nothing.

They needed to do this. _She needed to do this_.

She loved being a vampire, almost as much as she loved being with Edward and the rest of the Cullens, but there were certain things she missed about her human life. And surprisingly enough, it had nothing to do with food or sleep. What she really missed were basic human emotions.

Like fear.

Bella missed the feel of her heart pounding into her ribcage, the sound of blood roaring in her ears. She missed the surge of adrenaline that used to pump and pulsate through her veins whenever she was doing something dangerous.

Especially when she was doing something dangerous.

"You ever done this before, Bells?" Alice wondered aloud as she peered over the edge of the cliff.

"Once…a long time ago."

"Oh that's right. How could I forget? Was it higher up than this?"

"Are you kidding? I don't think you would've been able to get me up this high back then if you paid me."

Rosalie scooped up a rock and tossed it over the edge, timing how long it took for it to hit and become enveloped in crashing waves below.

"And what changed your mind?"

Bella shrugged and dusted herself off as she got to her feet.

"I don't really know…I guess all this immortality business just brings out the adrenaline junky in me."

**End Chapter One**


	2. Author's Note!

**Quick Author's Note: So for some reason, even the I posted this story early this morning, thinks I posted it _yesterday_ and as a result this story ended up **  
**somewhere on the second page. Weird. Anyway, I figured I'd attempt to kind of give this story a bump!**

**Please let me know what you think! (Not of this note, but of Chapter One) ;o)**

**Much Luv,**

**Galaxystar**


End file.
